Black Pearls
by Jasey Rae1
Summary: AU of PoA. When Sirius Black was carried off to Azkaban, he left behind a two-year-old. Now, Aludra is starting her fourth year knowing that her father is on his way to Hogwarts and trying not to care that it's not for her. Updated.
1. Prologue

A sharp knock on the door startled Remus Lupin. Who would be coming to see him? His face brightened; maybe it was James and Lily bringing Harry over to visit. Or maybe Sirius had gotten the sidecar on his motorbike fixed and was bringing Aludra over to see her godfather. Aludra was a year older than Harry and very close to Remus. If Remus was anywhere around her, she would be in his arms or walking close behind. She and Sirius were practically inseparable unless she was around Remus. She seemed permanently fixated to him, not wanting to be in her father's arms in fear that she would have to leave. A smile on his face, he strode over to the front door to open it.

His smile faltered. Sure enough, it was Aludra, but not with Sirius. Instead, a very official looking Auror from the Ministry was holding the small girl. Her curly brown hair was pulled back, showing her bright grey eyes and the small cut over her left eyebrow that had yet to heal. Unlike the way she held onto Sirius or Remus, she had her arms crossed and was leaning away from the Auror, as if she didn't want to be touching him. She looked uncharacteristically unhappy, which made Remus nervous.

"I am from the Ministry, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes." The Auror stated, "Are you Remus John Lupin?"

"Yes," Remus replied warily.

Aludra leaned towards Remus and reached her arms out for him to hold her, opening and closing her fists in the air.

"Godfather to Aludra Margot Black?"

"Yes," Remus answered, still cautious.

"Remus!" Aludra whined, reaching out for Remus and nearly falling out of the Auror's grasp.

"Aludra," Remus said, far too used to Aludra trying to jump from her father's arms into Remus', "Don't do that," Remus said, grabbing Aludra.

Aludra wrapped her arms around Remus' neck and pressed her face into his shoulder, smiling, victorious. She relaxed after that, Remus noticed. She apparently hadn't liked being held by someone she didn't know.

"Thank you," The Auror said with a breath of relief, children apparently weren't his favorite things, "But back to the point of my visit, Sirius Black has been arrested, making you Aludra's legal guardian,"

"What?" Remus' jaw dropped; he nearly dropped Aludra as well, though she did not move or try to hold on tighter, she trusted that Remus would not let anything happen to her.

"There have been a series of accidents involving Black, Peter Pettigrew and Lily and James Potter. If you'd let me in, I'd be happy to explain everything that happened."

"But I can't take care of her! I… I have a condition…"

"We know all about your condition, sir. If it weren't for the fact that her family didn't want her, she most definitely wouldn't be in your custody. You have a spotless record, though if anything ever happened to Aludra, she would be taken away from you. You can, of course, refuse and she will be sent to an orphanage."

"You already tried her family?" Remus asked, shifting Aludra to his right side.

"The Lestranges are in Azkaban and we have already contacted the Malfoys. They refuse to take her in."

"There is no family that can take her in at all?"

"None that we can find,"

Remus desperately tried to think of another excuse not to keep Aludra. It was not that he didn't want her, having her around was the brightest part of his week, but weekly visits and permanent residence were two completely different things. What about the full moon? What would happen then? He couldn't leave a two year old alone while he was out, running around with no sense of what he was doing. And besides that, he was hated by all who knew what he was. What would she say if she ever knew? What would other people say to her? How would he even be able to raise her? He had no money, no way to buy her clothes and food or things for school when the time came.

"I don't have enough money to raise her." Remus said as another attempt to sway the Auror's decision.

"Enough gold for Aludra will be deposited into your Gringotts account every month."

"You're sure there isn't another way?" Remus asked, shifting Aludra to his side.

"If you don't take her in, we'll have no choice but to send her to an orphanage."

Remus looked down at the girl sleeping contently in his arms. The thought of her somewhere that he did not know nor trust made him uneasy. Of course the thought of her living with one of Sirius' cousins made his stomach flip too. He could only imagine what the sweet child that he was holding would be like after growing up with Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Surely there was something that he could do with her near the full moon. She could perhaps stay with his mother? And he had a spare bedroom that was currently only collecting dust; it was plenty big enough for a bed and wardrobe.

But the thought of condemning the innocent child to a life of being shut in and knowing that her only guardian was a monster made him shudder. It was a step up, however, from being mistreated and growing up learning to be prejudiced and how to properly perform unforgivable curses.

"I-I'll take her." Remus said shakily, still not sure if he was making the right decision.

"Excellent. Now, someone from the Ministry will be by at every full moon to ensure that Aludra is safe and out of harms way. We'll also regularly visit her to make sure that things are alright during the rest of the phases of the moon."

"That's fine," Remus' thoughts were clouded with the fact that Aludra was now his responsibility.

"I'm also here to inform you of the incidents involving her father, but it is a rather long story and it looks as if it could start raining at any moment…"

"Oh, yes, of course," Remus said, moving aside so that the Auror could step inside.

Remus closed the door behind them and watched the Auror sit in an old armchair. He sat on the couch, opposite the armchair with Aludra. Her arms were no longer gripping his neck and she was snoring softly. He moved her beside him and she laid her head on his leg, still asleep. Remus looked up at the Auror.

The Auror cleared his throat and began, "On October 31st…"

* * *

**Oh my, I'm nervous about this. I'm rather worried about this being my first OC _and_ long chaptered fic. Hopefully this will go through all of PoA. Read and review and add me to your favorites/alerts so you know when I post the next part!**


	2. Chapter One

"Have you got your booklist?" Remus asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Yes, Remus," Aludra answered, "Now can we go?"

"Hold on, let me just…"

But Aludra had stopped listening and stuck out her left arm; Remus had been through his mental checklist over and over all day, she was sure nothing was missing. From around the corner, a large, triple decker violet bus sped towards the two and came to an abrupt stop in front of their feet.

"In a rush?" Remus muttered darkly.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus… Well, you know the rest. How you doin', Allie? Remus?" Stan Shunpike, pimply as ever, asked from the bottom step of the bus.

"Brilliant, Stan," Aludra smiled, "And you?"

She stepped onto the bus and waved at the driver who nodded in return then plopped down into an armchair near the front of the bus, eyeing the rest of the first floor.

"Leaky Cauldron, sir?" Stan asked Remus as they too climbed onto the bus.

"Yes," Remus answered, "Eight sickles?"

Stan nodded and Remus dropped seven sickles and a handful of knuts into Stan's waiting palm. Remus sat behind Aludra, watching her closely, while Stan sat behind the driver in front of the other two.

"Fourth year, Allie?" Stan asked, turning his chair around to face her.

"Yeah, I've got my O.W.L.s next year."

"That's rough. It hasn't been long since I took mine. Barely got a handful of 'acceptable's myself. I'm sure you'll do fine though, you're a smart one, you are."

Aludra smiled, "I'm not worried about much except Herbology. I've killed more plants in that class than I can count."

"Well, it's more written theory than practical. Nuffing too hard."

"Leaky Cauldron!" Ernie called and the bus came to a violent halt.

However, Aludra's body did not get the message to stop and continued forward, crashing into the floor in front of her chair.

"I swear, I'm going to have to charm you to your seat," Stan said jokingly, kneeling in front of her to help her to her feet, "Up you go, then."

Aludra took his hand, grateful, and pulled herself up, sighing at her own clumsiness.

"Thanks, Stan," She said, brushing off the front of her trousers.

Remus was at her side then, a hand on her shoulder, steering her towards the front of the bus.

"Problem?" Aludra snapped.

"I get motion sickness," Remus answered, though he didn't look sick.

"Bye Allie! Bye Remus, hope you feel better." Stan said.

"Bye, Stan!" Aludra called over her shoulder.

"Bye, thanks." Remus mumbled, raising his hand in an unenthusiastic wave goodbye.

"See you in a few hours, then." He called back as she and Remus stepped off of the bus.

It was gone just as fast as it had come, leaving Aludra glaring at a still fine looking Remus.

"You don't look sick to me." Aludra quipped, arms crossed.

"Well, we're not moving are we?"

Aludra rolled her eyes; she knew what her godfather was really thinking. The friendship that she and Stan shared from too many trips to Diagon Alley to count made Remus uncomfortable. It was ridiculous, but it was Remus through and through: overprotective, but with good intentions.

"Got your booklist?" Remus asked, starting up towards the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, much more at ease now that the purple bus was long gone.

"Yes," Aludra sighed, pulling the piece of parchment from her back pocket.

"Good. Let's go get your books then."

They entered through the Leaky Cauldron and passed by the unfortunately placed Eeylops Owl Emporium. Because it was so near the entrance to Diagon Alley, Aludra and Remus were forced to pass by it on every trip. Even before she had started at Hogwarts, Aludra had wanted a pet, more specifically an owl. When she was younger, she would ask several times every time they passed the store but as she grew older, she came to understand that with Remus putting her through school, an owl was a luxury and not a necessity as she once believed.

Aludra stared longingly in the window as they passed, watching the graceful birds. Remus noticed this and sighed, placing his hand on her shoulder, hoping she recognized the silent apology. She glanced up at her godfather and smiled. She felt guilty for even looking now that she saw the remorseful look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Aludra. I wish I could, I really do. But, you know this year I have to buy myself some things for school as well. And thankfully you haven't grown this summer, but you'll need dress robes this year. I promise you I'll buy you an owl one day."

"No, no, Remus, I didn't mean anything. I promise. I was just looking."

"I know. Speaking of money, take this and go buy your books," he handed her a purse filled with coins, "There should be enough here for all your books and your robes. I'll meet you back here in a bit, I'm going to go pick up my things."

"And I can keep what's left?"

"As always," Remus smiled. He always made sure that she had enough to buy new copies of her books and decent enough robes if they were needed. But she quickly discovered that used books were cheaper and just as good and would leave her with some spending money. It was never enough for and owl and the needed supplies, but there was always enough for a little treat and sometimes enough to buy a few snacks on the train.

"Thanks, love you," Aludra said, slipping the purse into her pocket.

"I love you too. Be safe, please. I'll meet you back around here in an hour or so."

"Alright," she answered, stepping into Flourish and Blotts.

Buying her books was easy, but finding dress robes was a bit more challenging. She settled on a set of dark violet robes that didn't cost nearly as much as she was expecting and ended up with quite a bit of money left over. She bought two ice creams, and set off to find Remus. She had just passed Gringotts when she spotted him and the parcel under his arm that she recognized as being from the secondhand robe shop. She frowned at this.

"Remus, you could have bought new robes instead of giving me so much," Aludra said, handing him his ice cream, "You know I buy secondhand books anyway."

"I know, but I like you to have a little spending money. Besides I could get more this way than paying for new robes, I don't mind it. Thank you for the ice cream, by the way, you didn't have to get me anything."

"It was no problem. Are we headed home?"

"I suppose. Can you please try to avoid doing anything that requires Stan to touch you though?"

Aludra flushed a bright red, "Remus! You know that nothing's going on between us!"

"I know, but still, please try?"

She laughed as they walked through the Leaky Cauldron, "Sure."

* * *

This doesn't mean I'm working on this fic like full time or anything, but I decided to finish this chapter since it was like 2/3 done anyway. I'm rereading the whole series and I'm hoping it will spark my writing some because I miss it. Especially this fic. Also, the lexicon is the best source in the world and I'm not sure how much owls are but I'm going to pretend they're expensive. Reviews are loved.


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